I actually ended up selling both. The 940 was probably nicer for sonically but they broke on me just from regular use, so after I got them replaced I ended up selling them. I then ended up selling the 1440 later on as I found my signature tastes had shifted.
Today I actually own a pair of the SRH1540 which I am enjoying quite a bit but it does match my current sonic signature which is a bit V shaped (strong bass and treble). The 1540 is also built much much better than either the 940 or 1440 and is much lighter.
While I find the Shure sound to be upper midrange/treble happy I have never found it as strong to sharp as the Grados I have heard.
locally, similarly priced headphones that are available to me are hd 598 / shure 940 / sony mdr 1r / audio technica es10 / audio technica esw9 / hifiman he-400 / akg k550...
where i live... this is all cost almost the same with $20~40 price differences between them (starting from $380 to $420)
most of my songs collections are genres with female vocals / guitars / indie pop / folk rock... like frightened rabbit or slow club...
initially after reading many reviews i was set on shure 940, but i don't want to get OCD over being afraid that it will crack and broke....
among the above, which ones do you think is good for my music collection?
is it a bad idea to get shure srh 940 expecting i can use it for many years?
my grado sr60 has been going strong for more than half a decade now...
(i've read all the above headphones reviews except akg and audio technica yet...)
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ps: also, while i'd love to get the shure 1540 not only that it's not available locally yet, my initial budget was only $150, i was about to get alessandro ms1i initially and be done with it, but after reading posts and threads saying grado sr60 with L cush pads will yield 90~95% of upper tier grado sound signature, i was thinking it'd be a waste if i buy a $150 headphones considering i already hv sr60... (because price of everything is inflated so $150 doesn't worth), e.g amazon price of $220 on hd 598, here cost $379 .
so because of that... i'm stretching my budget to $380~$420... and the above listed are all the maximum headphones i can get... (and / or any model lower than that in US prices)
i was really sold on shure 940...,, is there any headphones brands / models out there that is as good / just slightly worse than shure 940 for my genres....?
btw all my sources are 320kbps...
ps no.2: while i can't buy from amazon directly to ship it where i live, since i live in asia ATM, there are 3rd party forwarder services that'll allow me to order from amazon => them => my place...
currently shure 1440 is $300 on amazon and door-to-door shipment to where i live will cost me ~$450 if the package is 1~2kg, and $25 per kg after that (idk how heavy the shure package is). *i could still justify that, though i'd have to wait 2 months for the shipment from them.
i'm really tempted on buying the shure 1540, but i dont think im at a point in live where i can justify buying a ~$700 and neglecting responsiblities, including not eating for 4 months
)
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what do you think?
should i starve myself to death and buy 1540? is 1440 enough for my genre? or can 940 live for at least 4 years or more with "proper" care?